Despite its other games, Blizzard is seemingly drawing a line in a sand for its upcoming Starcraft shooter, avoiding the live-service trappings that plague other open-world shooters.
Currently in development with a tentative release title of 2030—yep, 2030—the open-world shooter will reportedly be a single-player, narrative-driven shooter that is being treated like a classic “boxed” release.
Set 70 years after Starcraft 2, which is how long it feels like its been since that game launched, the new open-world shooter is described by Creative Director Dan Hay as a game “where players create a character, name then, and follow that character’s story”.
Speaking to outlet Inven Global, Hay explained that the in-development shooter “has a beginning middle, and an end”. While players can spend their time bumming around in the open world, Hay was clear to state that there’s a “definitive ending” to the game that is treated like “purchasing a standalone boxed game, playing it, and experiencing its story”.
Unlike Diablo, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft, Blizzard isn’t building Starcraft as a live game with Hay promising its “not a seasonal game”. Instead, the game “features a deep story, main missions, side quests and character progression” with “serious missions and a powerful narrative” that could be extended with future expansions but isn’t being designed with them in mind.
As Blizzard aims to bring Starcraft back to gamers, it’s clear the studio is cautious not to mess up its revival with the narrative beats of Starcraft 2 inspiring its shooter successor. “You might remember the moment Kerrigan was abandoned in StarCraft,” Hay said. “When the camera pulled back on Kerrigan left all alone, you wanted to scream at the screen, ‘No, don’t leave her behind!’ In our missions, we want to deliver that intensity of emotion once again.”
Honestly, it’s a surprise, not just because every new game is roped into the live-service, cosmetic-filled tripe these days, but the fact that Blizzard is going down the strictly single-player route. After the hyper-seasonal and downright exploitative path of Diablo 4, it’s extremely surprising that Starcraft is being treated with some brevity.
The lack of any plans for live-service shenanigans also matches recent comments from industry insiders about the upcoming Starcraft shooter. Prior to the shooter’s reveal, renowned games journalist Jason Schreier shut down claims that the game was a Destiny-like MMO shooter, explaining that they never expected the type of game Blizzard was actually making.
“It’s kind of one of those things where, to me, I look at it and go, ‘well, if there’s ever any hope that anything is ever going to do this again, it kind of feels like Blizzard is one of the only places that could do it,” the journalist said.
Right now, we’re still waiting four years until the game’s release, which isn’t too bad in the face of waits like The Elder Scrolls 6. Additionally, with Cyberpunk 2 likely not releasing until sometime after 2030, Starcraft doesn’t seem like too much of a wait.
